Take a look at what Foucault wrote in the beginning of his essay "Technologies of the Self":
I think about how social networking has made everyone and everything available to the public. It's like a massive vanity press market with no start or finish line. When I go on Facebook I see my friend's children, I see my friends going on vacation and looking like they are having a great time. It makes me feel like I haven't really done much in my own life. I often imagine posting pictures of myself doing something exciting just to impress my small group of virtual friends, when in reality my life is pretty mundane. That's when I feel like maybe people are just keeping up with the Joneses. Why do we have to put all these pictures up and talk about our lives every single day again? What personal restraint are we showing in the 21st century?
Are we too individualistic and self-serving now because of the internet? Is there any danger of us truly losing our sense of self online or are we gaining the knowledge we need to learn by exposing our private lives regularly?
Great question! This class has made me think more about Facebook and why I even joined. I’m definitely guilty of posting and viewing pictures. I don’t post pictures as often as I used to, and it usually takes me longer to post them in the first place (I used to post pictures immediately after weddings or birthdays). But I also love looking at other people’s pictures, especially pictures of my niece and nephew who I rarely get to see because they live in Ohio and California.
ReplyDeleteI agree that people make their lives out to be better than what they really are on Facebook. People want others to think that they have a great life. And I think the internet has made people lose a sense of privacy. However, I don’t think I’m in danger of losing my sense of self online. I’m very careful about what I post, and I don’t post things every day. I don’t think I’m gaining any knowledge either though (besides learning that one of high school classmates just became engaged).
I think Facebook really is a pride thing. My sister and sister-in-law post pictures of their kids because they are proud of them. So people don’t necessarily lose their sense of self; rather, they are trying to build confidence. We feel good when someone “likes” a post or a picture. So I guess Facebook has made people more self-serving (and maybe this is why privacy is lost: the more people share, the more feedback they receive).
I guess the trick to not losing a sense of self is to still remember to live life and not spend every hour on Facebook. I remember a Toyota commercial I saw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUGmcb3mhLM). Basically a girl is making fun of her parents for not having a life because they only have 19 Facebook friends. The girl is going on about her total number of friends of Facebook, and the camera shows the parents mountain biking with other couples. Who’s really happier in this commercial: the girl or her parents?
Facebook is a platform for people to display their public identity. Peoples’ profiles, updates, and photos show only what they want others to see. These versions of themselves are the ones they wish for others to view, not the private ones where they forget to pay the cell phone bill, where they spill spaghetti sauce down their shirts, or where they push their grocery cart in front of the old lady slowly making her way to the check-out line. When was the last time you saw someone post an unflattering photo of herself? You know, the ones you look awful in; caught in the midst of chewing a Dorito with one eye half closed. Even if tagged in a less-than-glamorous pose, the victim of photographic timing can untag herself. In the world of Facebook, each person can edit out the unsavory aspects of their lives and display the fantasy veneer that ultimately makes them look good and enviable.
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t agree more that I occasionally log off of Facebook feeling inferior and boring. But then again, I am not living my life online – I am out in the world living it in the flesh. Many of my friends write endless drivel, posting mindless comments often 5 times a day that make me think they need public approval for living the lives they live. They need to validate their actions and emotions with support and approval from others online.
Foucault mentions one means of caring for the self as the confessional. But again, I worry that a public diary allows the opportunity for people to become too self-indulgent (see my own blog post from a few weeks ago) and I have to question whether seeking to care for the self is actually good for the greater good. Think about all the teen movies where a mean girl or boy has been nasty to others, but seen the error of his or her ways and finally, in a dramatic flourish (usually at prom or homecoming or graduation) makes a grandiose public apology speech and all is forgiven. Puh-lease. Do people really seek atonement to make those they have wronged feel better, or are they really making these public displays of humility (um, helloooo irony) and hopes of forgiveness for their own good: acceptance, approval, and allowance to resume a life uninterrupted by shame and guilt?
Many of us seek this same kind of public approval through Facebook as a selfish measure to bolster our own inferiority complexes and lapses in self-esteem. But really, who does this benefit? Clearly the three of us can see through the transparent images that our friends post as examples of the “perfect lives” they are living, and we are not entirely sold on this façade. So does the confidence they garner from showing off their lives make them better citizens, parents, or bosses? Maybe. Maybe the push they need to better people comes from the push they receive from feeling like they are better people. Or I could be completely wrong. They jury’s still out.